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By Brad Gray At Royal Randwick

It was only a barrier trial but Diamond Tathagata took some big scalps in taking out the first heat of the morning at Royal Randwick.

The Group Two Skyline Stakes-winner held off Comin’ Through with star mare Winx back in third while behind her were the likes of Tom Melbourne, who is a new addition to the Chris Waller yard, Foxplay and Souchez.

“He is a nice strong colt and we couldn’t have asked for anything more today racing against older horses. The idea was just to give him a nice gallop and he had that,” Mark Newnham reported.

“With colts, you want to see them keen and competitive. He jumped really quickly from the gates to put himself right there, was relaxed and was keen to put his head down on the line. You want to see them have a bit of desire.

“He is a lot bigger and stronger than he was as an early two year old.”

The son of Hinchinbrook will kick off his spring campaign in either The Rosebud at Listed level (August 12) or the Group Three San Domenico Stakes (August 26) before setting his sights on the $1,000,000 Group One Golden Rose in late September.

“We’ll just see how he comes out of the trial before we decide anything. The Golden Rose is still a while away yet but he’ll probably need two runs going into it,” Newnham said.

Watch all the replays of Monday's barrier trials at Royal Randwick